Six months after the launch of the Women’s Global Development and Prosperity (W-GDP) Initiative, another exciting program is in the works: the W-GDP Incentive Fund.
Announced by White House Advisor Ivanka Trump and USAID Administrator Mark Green at an event co-hosted by the USGLC and USAID, the W-GDP Incentive Fund will provide grants to 14 projects in 22 countries. Mostly located in Latin America, Africa, and Southeast Asia, these projects will collectively help more than 100,000 women advance in their local economies.
“We are very excited. This really is just the beginning,” said Ms. Trump, who has spearheaded the W-GDP Initiative. “We are already seeing the impact and effect [and] we have no doubt it is going to enable us to really achieve extraordinary things.”
The fund builds on the W-GDP’s broader goals to empower 50 million women in the developing world by 2025 with a three-fold focus to lift up women in the economy, the workforce, and as entrepreneurs.
While the W-GDP coordinates women’s economic empowerment across all federal agencies— including the State Department, USAID, the Peace Corps, the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) and the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC)— part of the initiative’s ‘secret sauce’ is the public-private partnerships. By tapping into the power of the private sector, W-GDP plans to maximize the impact and reach of its work.
“The private sector has played a critical role in this regard,” said Administrator Green. “We’re able to unlock the might of the private sector in ways that create economic benefits broadly across the community, but also create opportunities to build upon work that is already being done.”
These 14 new projects will leverage expertise from over 30 private sector companies and NGOs, in addition to $160 million in private sector funding. In fact, six of the 14 projects involve USGLC members—either as project implementers or partners. Through their efforts, they’re leading the charge to change the lives of thousands of women around the world.
Here are the new W-GDP Incentive Fund projects led by USGLC members: